Advancing Evidence‑Based Student Success Research
The University of Minnesota Rochester (UMR) has received a transformative investment of $500,000 from ECMC Foundation. These funds will support faculty research to discern which of our many evidence-based practices have the greatest impact on student success - especially those in accelerated programs. Those practices potentially include student success coaching, JustASK faculty-student interaction center, undergraduate research experiences with our employer partner, active learning, living learning communities, first year experience coursework, career exploration coursework, community-based learning, capstones, collaborative learning, uniquely-designed major and internships.
Guided by a mission to improve career success among underserved populations through evidence‑based innovation, ECMC Foundation invests in institutions that are reshaping what equitable higher education can look like. Their support will enable UMR faculty to discern which practices are most impactful and then to share those practices that warrant scaling - across the University of Minnesota and through the 72-member College-in-3 Exchange.
With this support, the university will dive deeper into high-impact strategies and identify which evidence-based approaches most directly influence timely, successful completion for all students. Distilling these insights is the next step toward sharing best practices broadly, ensuring all students have the opportunity to launch successfully into the workforce.
The contribution also fuels the dedication of UMR’s faculty, whose research drives innovation in learning and student success across the student experience.
Equity in student achievement remains one of higher education’s most pressing challenges. Through ECMC Foundation’s partnership, UMR will expand its nationally recognized efforts to close achievement gaps, work toward embedding evidence-based practices in every classroom and build sustainable models of success for every learner.
This commitment aligns seamlessly with the University of Minnesota’s Elevate Extraordinary 2030 strategic imperative to innovate to transform the future of learning.